"Calling all autobots, we are under targeted attack, cease all contact with humans", that transmission ran through Sideswipes head over and over again. It has been 4 years since the Chicago incident, and the Autobot-Decepticon civil war has come to a hault due to The United States severing their ties with the autobots, and their ultimate and complete betrayal when the humans began hunting there former allies, seeing no difference in The good or bad.
Sideswipe had finally reached a substancial place in The autobot ranks, second in command, however he was the default choice that came at a cost. His teacher Ironhide was second in command long before him, until Sentinel Prime had killed Ironhide. This began Sentinel's defection, and eventual Invasion of Chicago. This dealt a heavy blow to Sideswipe, he was good friends with Ironhide for years. Nevertheless, he buried his sadness; knowing that casualties were an unfortunate consequence of war. The messed up thing was that he was only second in command for only a few days, since all Autobots seperated into smaller groups and had gone into hiding after the humans betrayed them. Sideswipe learned the hard way how bad it is to be at the other end of human aggression, witnessing the death of Leadfoot, and barely escaping himself, as his human pursuers were very determined to see him dead. It angered Sideswipe knowing there was something he could have done to save Leadfoot. But alas! He could barely do anything himself at the wrath of the humans. The autobots taught the humans how to deal with Cybertronians, and it had come to bite them in their exhaust ports.
To help disguise himself from his attackers, he disguised himself as a red lamborghini.
One night, Sideswipe was driving back to his hide out with some recently harvested energon from a near by mine. "Well I'm home" he thought, as he drove into an abandoned factory. He transformed into his robot mode using his wheels for feet to skate over to a large tank which he managed to convert into a machine that refines energon into fuel. Once he converts the energon into fuel, he puts the energon into several barrels that have been laying around and drinks the energon out of the barrels.
When he finished he walked outside and looked at the stars, wondering if his fellow autobots were alright. "The universe must hate us, first we loose our home, and now we're on the brink of extinction" he says to himself. Though Sideswipe has managed to retain his confident and charismatic personality, he has become more angry at himself for noT seeing humanity's beTrayal coming, and ThaT he could barely help his fellow autobots.
"You were born a soldier, suck it up Sideswipe, this is war, all you need to do is survive it however you can and if you can now" he thinks to himself. He continues to look up into the night sky, and thinks back to all the good times he's had with the autobots, and one memory struck him. It was a hours before the autobots had it's Ties severed with The U.S.
Flashback
Sideswipe is skating over to Ratchet, the latter working on a remote like device
"Hey doc, whatcha up to?" Sideswipe asks
"I'm working on a special project" Ratchet says
"That's very specific" Sideswipe says
Ratchet rolls his eyes "You young bots are too curious for your own good" Ratchet says
"Well then just tell me what you're working on and I'll leave you alone" Sideswipe says
"Fine, do you recall the space bridge pillars?" Ratchet asks
"Yeah, they were used for transport, you and Bee took down the main one" Sideswipe says
"Correct, now I have managed to reverse engineer the Space bridge into this small remote like device, containing the ability to open a portal to anywhere, a portable space bridge if you will" Ratchet says
"Cool, can I see it" Sideswipe say reaching for it and Ratchet slaps his hand
"No, it's not ready yet, needs a few more adjustments" Ratchet says going back to tinkering with the device
He does this for a few more minutes while Sideswipe sits back and waits
"Done!" Ratchet says holding up the device
"Can I see it now?" Sideswipe says impatiently
"Fine, I need someone to test it anyway" before Sideswipe could tinker with it, a voice on The intercom of The N.E.S.T facility's speakers began broadcasting a life changing announcement
"Attention all N.E.S.T personel, we are officially shutting down, prepare to close shop by 0'800, all autobots are to leave the premises" the voice on the intercom says
"What?!" Sideswipe says
"But we only go new recruits a few days ago, or others who have gathered here" Ratchet says
"Where will we go?" Sideswipe asks,
Ratchet just shrugs
Sideswipe tries to hand Ratchet back the device
"No keep it, use it when your life depends on it" Ratchet says
End of flashback
Sideswipe pulls out The device that he kept on his side and he looked at it
' This could take me anywhere' Sideswipe says
His train of thought was broken when he heard the sound of helicopters and the sight of several search lights
"Damn, how did they find me?" Sideswipe asks himself in frustration and he scates inside The building
"Ok boys let's make this quick, I wanna be home for dinner with this transformers energon all over the place" a soldier says, he gives several orders To split into several squads and split up
He then turns on his head com unit "This is James Savoy, we've got this one corned, as far as anyone is concerned, he isn't going anywhere" he says into his com unit
"Excellent Savoy, see it done, my asset will be close by in need case of back up" a voice responds
The voice belongs to Harold Attinger, a paranoid government official who hates the Transformers and founder of the government group of Transformer hunters called Cemetary Wind
"I won't need that scum bag of a bounty hunter today" Savoy says
"I remembering you saying that before when you were on the trail of a blue autobot from the wreckers unit, he nearly escaped, until that so called scum bag of bounty hunter stepped in" Attinger replied
Sideswipe had hacked the communications and fell on one knee when he heard what Attinger said, they had gotten Topspin, but who was this bounty hunter they were talking about?
He didn't have time to think about it, he had to focus on a method of escaping as Cemetary Wind slowly closed in on his position, then he got an idea.
Cemetary Wind was slowly closing in on the autobot's position. They enter the building and begin searching the building for the autobot
"Sir, we have an energon reading" a soldier says to Savoy and he nods "All right people, stay sharp" he says. The soldiers approach the tank that Sideswipe had converted into an energon refiner, "Sir the signal's getting sTronger in these oil barrels" a soldier tells Savoy
Savoy looked inside the barrel and saw it was half empty with energon and kicks it over in anger
"The bastard knew we were coming! He's probably long gone by now!" Savoy shouts
Meanwhile, Sideswipe is hiding behind The The Tank since it's larger Than him, having his double barrel flare launcher aT The ready
"Sir, we goT anoTher signal, This one is larger, iT's coming from ThaT Tank" a soldier says and They begin closing in
"I'm home!" Sideswipe says and he shooTs The barrels filled wiTh energon, causing a large enough explosion To send The humans flying, while Sideswipe changes inTo his vehicle mode and drives off
Savoy punches The ground in frusTraTion
"Savoy whaT's going on, who did you find?" ATTinger asks
"IT's some silver auToboT wiTh wheels for feeT, he knew we were coming" Savoy responds on his com uniT
Meanwhile in CemeTary Wind headquarTers, ATTinger ponders, Trying To Think abouT which auToboT iT is, his is widen when he realises who iT is and he geTs up ouT his chair
"Savoy! Take ThaT auToboT down wiTh cauTion, he's almosT as dangerous as Prime and jusT as clever" ATTinger shouTs
Savoy simply rolls his eyes as he and his squad geT up, "They're jusT hunks of meTal sir, waiTing To be puT back in The scrap yard" Savoy says
Sideswipe races Through The The abandoned facTory faciliTies looking for a way ouT, hearing The helicopTers closing in on him, he suddenly sees he is being shoT aT from behind and sees several CemeTary Wind forces in several Rally FighTer vehicles and a black Suburban wiTh a TurreT mounTed The The roof of The car
"Am I The only one who Thinks Those cars are scary?" Sideswipe says To himself.
They conTinue To shooT aT Sideswipe as he barely manages To dodge The bulleTs
"Time To geT rid of These A-holes" Sideswipe says and he drives inTo The facTory's parking building and The Cemetery Wind forces follow him in
The chase resulTs in Sideswipe being chased To The Top of The building, resulTing Sideswipe outmaneuvering Them nearly every sTep of The way, causing the suburban To soar ouT of The building and crash, and several rally fighTers crashing inTo pillars, unTil There was only one lefT.
They manage To corner Sideswipe on The roof of The building, and he remains in vehicle mode. Savoy sTeps ouT of The car and walks over To Sideswipe
"You know, out of all The boTs I've meT, you and Prime were The hardesT To find and corner, The only difference is, Prime goT away and he wenT ouT fighTing" Savoy says
'Primes alive! Then There's hope afTer all!' Sideswipe says in his head
"You know my superiors say your dangerous, and I'll admiT you were Tough To caTch, buT iT ends here, The only Thing I'm surprised is you're going down wiThouT a fighT, someThing your oTher auToboTs never did, so I'll give you The curtsy of having your lasT words" Savoy says
"I promise you This human, you will pay for your crimes, and These aren'T my lasT words!" Sideswipe exclaims and he Transforms inTo his roboT mode and using his cyberTanium swords, slices The Rally fighTer in half, causing a small explosion, a Cemetery Wind helicopTer begins ascending up To Their posiTion, and Sideswipe jumps up and grabs The railing under The helicopTer as Savoy slowly geTs up
"You will answer for The spilled energon on your hands human!" Sideswipe says To Savoy as The helicopTer slowly begins falling
JusT when The helicopTer is abouT To crash, Sideswipe jumps off of iT and lands safely nearby.
"Well ThaT was inTeresTing" Sideswipe says changing into his vehicle mode and driving off
"Once again human, I have To clean up your mess" a voice says on Savoy's com uniT
Sideswipe is speeding Through The factory's faciliTy once again and sees an exiT rouTe, 'Yes, I'm home free' he thinks until a shoT is fired in fired in front of him and he Transformed into robot mode and landed on his side. Sideswipe then sees a large figure dark grey figure with a green visor walk over to him, as the figure gets closer, Sideswipe can tell it's a cybertronian.
"Who are you?" Sideswipe asks
The Transformer stops a few feet infront of him.
"Call me Lockdown" Lockdown's hand retracts and turns into a spark extractor-like weapon, and Sideswipe remembers Ratchet telling stories about this ruthless bounty hunter.
"There is only one way you survive this night autobot, tell me the location of your leader, Optimus Prime" Lockdown says.
"Even if I knew..." Sideswipe says as his Cybertanium swords come out of his hands, "...I wouldn't tell you" he finishes and charges at Lockdown.
Lockdown simply rolls his eyes and kicks the autobot away, sending Sideswipe tumbling into a nearby wall.
Lockdown walks slowly walks over slowly, ' use it when your life depends on it' Sideswipe hears in his head and he pull out the remote like device Ratchet gave him and tries to active it.
"Come on you piece of crap work!" Sideswipe shouts shakes The device and it opens a porTal in front of him
Lockdown freezes, "A space bridge?" Lockdown asks in shock
Sideswipe gets up and Lockdown notices, "You aren't getting away that easy!" Lockdown shouts and he runs at Sideswipe
Sideswipe jumps through the portal and it closes immediately, leaving only Lockdown to wonder where the autobot went, then decided he didn't care since his main objective really was to retrieve the Prime
Sideswipe hears the sound of rushing water and birds tweeting, he wakes up under a Tree in a lush green field near a spring of water
"Where am I?" he asks himself slowly getting up as he looks around and he sees a human settlement, but this one was different than the ones he had seen before, it seem..outdated. It had no tall skyscrapers and the construction of the buildings were primitive and old fashioned. He then notice a giant wall surrounding the area
and raises his metal eyebrow.
"This place seems to be some sort of fortress to protect those living here from whatever is threatening them on the outside, but it seems outdated, if Demolisher or Allspark forbid, Devastator were here, they could break through this wall with ease and destroy everything in their path" he thinks
He then looks at the device he used to get to this place and it was broken
"Well isn't that just great" he says sarcastically as he puts it away
"Well I might as well explore this place since I could be here for awhile" Sideswipe says and changes into his vehicle mode and drives into the city.
He noticed how he was the only car there, not to mention the city seemed totally empty, giving Sideswipe the confidence to transform into his robot mode and he began to inspect the houses, they were all empty
"Where is eveybody? They wouldn't just abandon their homes for nothing," Sideswipe says to himself and he heard large footsteps approaching him as well as strange growling noises, as the source of the footsteps approached him, Sideswipe saw that the source looked like a human, except it was only slightly taller than him and it no reproductive organs, concluding one thing, this was definitely not human.
"What the hell are you?" Sideswipe asked the creature.
The creature charged at him and only one thing came to Sideswipe's mind, 'shoot and ask questions later', he pulls out his flare launcher and fires it at the monster several times. Once the blast from the gun collides with the monster, the monsters falls over and begins to disintegrates into steam as the energon eats away at what is left of the nape of the monster's neck.
Sideswipe skates over and looks at his handy work, "So, that's what this wall is trying to keep out"
Suddenly Sideswipe hears a thunderous sound and sees a large yellow lightening bolt strike the ground on the inside of the settlement outside the wall.
"That can't be good" Sideswipe says and transforms forms into his vehicle mode and drive over to the impact point.